On November 24, 1883, Eugène Poubelle signed an order requiring Parisian property owners to provide their tenants with covered containers for household waste. Poubelle had been appointed prefect of the Seine just five weeks earlier, on October 19. The order did not require a single box but three, making Paris the first city in the world to mandate selective waste sorting. This practice began in 1884, over 140 years before modern recycling efforts gained widespread attention. The regulation required three containers per building: one for biodegradable waste, one for paper and rags, and one for glass, porcelain, and oyster shells. A second decree, issued on March 7, 1884, formalized the rule and was published in the official municipal bulletin of Paris. At the time, the city had nearly 2 million people, and the position of mayor had been abolished, allowing the prefect of the Seine to directly administer the city. The containers had to be shared by all tenants in a building and were provided by the property owner, not purchased individually by renters. This led to new financial burdens for property owners, who had to buy the containers. Building concierges, who were responsible for collecting and disposing of waste, faced increased workload. Meanwhile, rag collectors—who earned a living by collecting used items from the streets and selling them to processing companies—saw their income decline. Some people accused Poubelle of trying to eliminate their livelihood, but the new system already included designated bins for rags and paper. The controversy reached the public quickly: on January 16, 1884, Le Figaro, a prominent French newspaper, published a strongly critical editorial. The journalist used the term "Poubelle boxes," a clear insult at the time. Despite the opposition, the regulation had a lasting impact. The word "poubelle," which means "bin" or "trash can" in French, eventually entered the Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle in 1890, six years after the Figaro controversy. Poubelle remained prefect of the Seine until May 23, 1896, and although he did not manufacture any bins, his name became permanently associated with the containers. The modern trash bins in your kitchen, the bins on the sidewalk, and the practice of separating waste into categories all trace back to a decree issued during the Third Republic. The term that Parisians once used to mock him is now a common word in everyday language. There is some uncertainty about the exact details of the sorting system. Some sources claim that the requirement was removed from the March 7, 1884, decree due to poor implementation, while others believe it remained in effect. There is also disagreement about the contents of the third bin—whether it was meant for oyster shells alone or also included glass and porcelain. Despite these uncertainties, the legacy of Poubelle’s initiative is clear: it was one of the earliest attempts to organize waste management in a modern, systematic way.